The University of Southern California (USC) P30 project is directed at recruiting junior faculty members whose research interests are complementary to our goal of enhancing our understanding of the polydisciplinary events shaping craniofacial morphogenesis, their malformations and the use of stem cell biology for their regeneration. These new faculty members will be jointly recruited into the USC School of Dentistry (USCSD) and Keck School of Medicine (KSOM), permitting their access to university wide infrastructural research resources. These resources include technical support core laboratories and full access to graduate students and postdoctoral fellows. The most important resource we will supply them with is a highly talented, vertically stratified faculty cohort whose interests parallel their own research interests and who are dedicated to mentoring these new colleagues towards a path of independent biomedical research. The leadership of the two USC schools commits to space resources and faculty salaries that will permit our new colleagues to devote greater than 75% of their professional time over the next four years to their scholarship efforts. Year-end goal setting and reporting mechanisms are in place that will provide metrics of performance for these two new colleagues. These metrics will be reviewed and a plan created to enhance their strengths while attenuating any weaknesses as they achieve a path towards tenure and promotion at the University of Southern California. Ultimately, the success of this P30 project is measured by the career success of these two newly recruited faculty members, their integration with the existing distinguished faculty experts and the enrichment and expansion of the craniofacial biology program at USC. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: This collaborative project between the University of Southern California (USC) School of Dentistry (SD) and Keck School of Medicine (KSOM) will provide crucial support for the development of junior faculty members and academic programs at the USC and will certainly have a long lasting impact towards the improvement of oral health care for all Americans.